Question - do you follow a system when you receive an email enquiry from someone that you can't work with for some reason?

Maybe you're at capacity, or their issue is outside your competence, or something else.

To be honest, I think probably most people don't, but you could be missing a trick. By having a system, it reduces stress, saves time and serves that client better.

So today, I explore what to do when you can't say yes to enquiries so you can make the process easier for you, and more professional and helpful for the client.

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[00:00:18] Well, last week I had a little rant about directory entries and how often on a directory entry, they just don't seem to help, you know, potential clients, and it makes it hard for people to make the best choice of therapist. And I think it's quite an important list and I've had quite, quite a lot of feedback from it.

[00:01:00] Question for you, do you have a system that you follow when you receive an email inquiry from somebody that you can't work with for some reason? So it might be that you're at capacity or they're issues outside of your competency, or it could be something else. If so, I'd love you to contact me and tell you what you say.

[00:01:54] Easier for you professional and more helpful for your clients, because the chances are it's something that actually isn't your fault. And by thinking about this in advance, it means that you're going to make the process easier, more effective and better for the client. Okay. So let's take a look at what I'm talking about.

[00:02:30] So the, the email service think that they're doing us a favor because there are, I think there are just. Thousands and thousands of spam messages that keep getting sent out and they do their best to, you know, to hold them off, which is fine. I just dread to think what it'd be like if we didn't have some help in that respect, but it's infuriating.

[00:03:30] That's okay. You know, that's. That's just the way that it is. So what I recommend is that you make sure that you have an out of office on your emails. Now, it's usually a pretty simple thing to do. And I would say, if you're not quite sure how to do it, use good old Google to do a check for how to do it with your email service provider, because they're all a little bit different, but to my knowledge.

[00:04:14] Two hours or something like that, make it reasonable. Don't put pressure on yourself, but let them know when they can expect that you're going to get back to them and obviously keep to that. Now you might've received an inquiry and for whatever reason, you don't want to work with them. So it might be that you're at capacity or they're outside of your competency, or it might be just something that you don't really like working with.

[00:04:58] I'm sorry to hear that you're struggling. And then you can say to them, either the, unfortunately I'm at capacity at the moment, or I'm not in a position to work with you at the moment. Or something, and then give them some ideas for where they might be able to get some help or refer them to somebody else that, you know, and that you trust, and you know, that person's going to be there for them.

[00:05:43] However, I highly recommend. And you can put somebody's details there who specializes in, or has lots of experience working with whatever their particular issue is, and they might be a great fit for your needs. Additionally, and then I would put some details of a helpline. So it might be the calm, you know, C A L M, Campaign for Living Miserably, which is for men, or you could put Samaritans or any other organization that has a helpline.

[00:06:36] Now, obviously. It's most important that you put something that sounds like you, you know, so this is something I'm not even sure I'd say this. This is quite a, this is quite a posh sort of way of putting it. I probably put it a little bit more, casually than that, but that's just the way that I am, but just play about with it a little bit.

[00:07:13] tweak it to sort of fit the current person that you're applying to and send it out. So although that might seem like a lot of work, if you do that, like I say, if you just keep a draft of it, and then when you get one of these, one of these, emails, you can just copy it over. It's not really going to take you any time.

[00:07:59] They might even go on to recommend you to a friend in the future. So, that's all I really wanted to say. It's really important that we have a good think about these sorts of things. Okay. So, inspiration without action is merely entertainment, which as you know, if you've listened to me before. I really love that.

[00:08:41] And you'll make it so that it's really easy to carry this out. So therefore, when somebody contacts you and you can't work with them or, you know, or you can't answer them for a while, they won't feel as though you've just not got back to them. They'll feel, they'll feel kind of respected by you. And if they receive a response from you that says, I'm sorry, I can't work with you, but here's somebody who I recommend.

[00:09:30] Really hacks me off when emails just go to your spam folder for like no apparent reason. So please, please, please, please, please, please remember to go and check your spam folder every single day, because it would be awful if you missed a client because they've gone to spam. So that's it. Thank you for listening to the Grow Your Private Practice Show. Now if you are looking for additional resources that are gonna help you to grow your private practice, be sure to go and check out my website. I've got a variety of free resources available that you can download and use today. So you can just go over to, Jane Travis.

[00:10:26] And if you don't want them, you can unsubscribe at any time. You know, I'm here, I'm here to help. You're not him dear. So, you know, that's what I'm trying to do. So what are you waiting for? Go and visit jaintravis. co. uk now and let's take your private practice to the next level together. So until this time next week, have a good week.